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Monday, October 5, 2015

Who’s Trying to Silence Cindy Sheehan? | Mickey Z.

Photo credit: Mickey Z.

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust

Oct. 2, 2015

Activism often
makes for strange bedfellows. The arduous work of coalition-building
involves strategic compromises and trade-offs. Most importantly,
solidarity necessitates an agreement to disagree… with minimal malice.

Being an ally,
accomplice, or fellow traveler requires a fundamental understanding that
disagreement is not the same as oppression or violence. If a particular
activist contingent will tolerate nothing less than marching in
lockstep, well, that’s not solidarity or ally-ship. It’s thought
policing.

Which brings me to a situation involving my friend and comrade, Cindy Sheehan -- someone who has connected with an astonishing array of dissident individuals and groups.

“I have worked
with groups from the spectrum of revolutionary communists to
‘free-market’ capitalist libertarians,” explains Cindy. “There are some
groups I have worked with that I only affiliate with on very narrow
parameters because they have proven to be there more to support
Democrats than oppose U.S. imperialism. We anti-imperialists are fewer
in number, so it's weird that the ‘far-right’ and ‘far-left’ are meeting
better on what I consider to be bedrock issues than with other groups I
have worked with.”

I last
interviewed Cindy in 2010 and was planning to do so again soon. When I
recently learned she was being targeted by a new disinformation
campaign, I knew the time was right.

Our conversation went a little something like this…

Mickey Z.:
Lots of people only know you as "anti-war" and me as "vegan" but we
each do activist work far beyond any one category. Recently, I noticed
we've both begun to focus on male supremacy and "male pattern violence"
as the core -- the foundation, if you will -- of all oppressions. Would
you agree with that appraisal?

Cindy Sheehan: I think this male pattern violence is the root of both of our foci. It is true that there are some women who are in high positions of "power" in this patriarchal paradigm,
but it seems that most of the time, they are worse warmongers than the
males because they feel like they have to prove that they can murder
without conscience, also. Male supremacy
is also the least recognized or talked about because almost every
single institution is dominated by this male energy and the females who
support it.

MZ: I
find it amazing and so damn frustrating to realize that so much of my
writing, public speaking, street activism, photography, etc. has not
focused on this root. You might even say that by missing the foundation,
I helped support it. Even so, it’s liberating and motivating to finally
recognize the deepest connections and re-focus my energies.

CS: Not too long after I left Camp Casey
in August of 2005, I was speaking somewhere about matriarchy and
patriarchy and I was confronted by the (then) president of Veterans for
Peace (VFP) who told me that I shouldn't be speaking about this issue
because it will "marginalize" me and piss off half of the movement.
What is amazing that so-called aware and awake activists are still stuck
in this mindset in the 21st century. We should not still be wandering
in the wilderness at his point or having to defend ourselves against
sexist attacks for speaking up for the safety of women and girls.

MZ: Which brings us to the topic at hand. Can you explain what recently happened with VFP and how it’s impacted you?

CS: It started when this letter by
the Women’s Alliance was brought to my attention. In it, the authors
declare: “Veterans for Peace is aligning itself with a belief system
that says that we, as women, are the bigots. VFP is rising up against
‘transmisogyny’ (a term not defined in your statement), but ignores male
on female hate speech and violence completely bypassing the matter of
misogyny.”

Breastfeeding
has to now be called "chestfeeding" because the other term that's been
around for centuries offends women transitioning to male who have had
mastectomies yet get pregnant. Women, woman, or pregnant must now be
called: Pregnant partner and birthing individual.

Incredibly misogynistic to deny women the very thing that our biology makes us uniquely suited for.

CS: Once
I supported Lisa Blank, Cheryl Biren, and Anita Stewart in their quest
to get answers from Veterans for Peace as to their transgender-related
rules and to define some terms it used, I was immediately attacked.

I have been told
many times that I am "on the wrong side" of this issue, that I am
"transphobic," that I am a “TERF,” that my support for my three friends
means that I have made the entire "antiwar movement" irrelevant and anything I did for Private Manning is also irrelevant because I deny Private Manning her "womanhood."

MZ: In
other aspects of social justice activism, comrades can agree to
disagree but in this case, you are being smeared and ex-communicated for
owning a differing opinion. But, to state what should be obvious, let’s
be clear: It’s quite possible, of course, to support transgender issues
while not agreeing with every aspect of trans politics/queer theory.

CS:
I fully support each and every individual's right to be whomever they
want to be. To be with whomever they want to be with. As long as there
is no exploitation or anyone else is being harmed.

MZ: You’ve said, “The one thing gender politics refuses to acknowledge or analyze is class.” Can you elaborate on this?

CS:
How many poor women can afford the surgeries and hormones? Just like
back alley abortions, it is a class issue. Then again, women have always
been second class citizens, and here in 2015, that is still true. Women
still are paid less than men in the workplace and women are still not equal under the law. For example, the Equality Act of 2015 is being rushed through Congress, a bill which would give transgender women equality under the law before biological women get it.

For a long time,
female members of VFP have been pushing for a statement about women and
women veterans, and the answer is that it is not necessary, but within
three weeks of bullying, VFP had a zero-tolerance for "transmisogyny" up
on its website.

VFP (seems I am picking on them) recently instituted a program: "Peace at home, peace abroad"
which is great and addresses police brutality and other issues, but
leaves out the most prevalent one (especially among veterans) and that
is domestic violence.

It seems to be
still socially acceptable to tell demeaning jokes about women, because,
unfortunately, some women still laugh and tell others to "lighten up."
It's sad, that in the 21st century, women still have to struggle to
break free of our second class status.

MZ: How
do you believe we can join together to fight for social justice,
educate about the upcoming elections, work to save the environment,
struggle against militarism, and expose patriarchy while under threat of
silencing and thought policing?

CS:
I don't know if I have shared this with you, but everyone I have come
into contact with lately (those doing real, revolutionary grass-roots
work) are all having the experience of being bullied by transgender
activists. From struggles in small southern towns to Black Lives Matter
movements around the country, transgender bullies are moving in with
their “our way or the highway” approach.

To bully people
who would stand with them in their right to safety and to be whomever
they wants to be and to tear apart movements for their own narrow
identity politics ends is counter-revolutionary.

I would just say
"ignore them" and move forward, but the minority is hellbent on
infringing upon the rights of the majority (biological women) using very
abusive tactics. Like you said, with others most of the time we are
able to put aside differences to work together on confronting fascism
and I say we have to continue that strategy.

In fact, I heard
from a young gay man that after he listened to the show I did on male
supremacy, he has become a "gender abolitionist" when he was not before.
We are having a good effect on people. One at a time, if necessary.

MZ:Bringing
it back to where we started: where will your holistic brand of activism
take you next? What’s on the horizon for you in terms of focus,
actions, talks, etc. and how can readers follow your work and/or get in
touch?

Since March,
though, I have been concentrating on helping my sister recover from and
be cured of breast cancer (will the trans-bullies soon demand to start
calling it "chest cancer”?). She has the rarest and most aggressive form
of breast cancer which has metastasized. As aggressive as her cancer
is, we are being more aggressive and recently learned the large tumor
she had on her breast is completely gone!

With the next
episode of bourgeois elections approaching, I see we will also have to
be aggressive in exposing the empire and Capitalism every chance we get.

Thanks for the
conversation, Mickey! As far as I know (as of late September), VFP and
the Women’s Alliance have not come to a meeting of minds over the
transgender statement. I will keep you posted!

1 comment:

I would never attempt to silence or censor Cindy. Her message is much too important. She, on the other hand, censored me for years. But that's OK...my comments don't account for much. Cindy's work is vital to social advancement, as is the interviewers' contribution to gender/vegan/gender politics. I am concerned that you may harm yourselves when you realise your lives' body of work and invaluable insights will be hijacked by transgender ninja-go. I leave you and them mokosatsu.

Please limit your comments to the content of the posts---not your self-perceived, self-righteous, personal opinions of the authors/activists who post at this blog. Personal attacks, or threats of violence will not be posted....moderator.

Peace has a day in Court Cindy Sheehan For those of you who know me and have been following my story, you know that part ...

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Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox is an independent online radio show and blog that strives to be completely free from establishment political ideology and focus on a message of peace, justice, environmental sustainability and economic equality. To this end, we provide educational and inspirational programs on topics related to these issues and we organize/promote actions working towards peace, justice, and environmental sustainability.